- To finance for Rome's huge army, citizens had to pay heavy taxes. These taxes led many people into poverty, and it also hurt the trade in the Roman empire.
- Rome relied on riches from conquered territories. Rome ran out of new lands to conquer, so they had a very large empire to defend. They needed taxes to pay for the military.
-With Rome being so large, Rome had to take care of more and more citizens, and they didn't have enough revenue to keep up with all of the people and the money they were spending, so they had to raise taxes. Then, they started taxing the wealthy people more, which weakened the Roman empire because they didn't want to be taxed.
-Roman road building continued and was well maintained, until economic decline and external pressure began to give way.
-By the fall of the west in 476 AD, the condition of the roads was the same as the empire, and many roads would fall into disuse, disrepair and ruin throughout the medieval age.
-Rome's decline brought the end of the games in the Colosseum. Later, stones from the Colosseum structure was used in construction all around Rome.
-Rome gave out daily rations of grain (bread and circuses) to many poor people in the empire, but there were just more and more people needing the rations, that the government could'nt supply enough and keep up.
-(with above) A benefit of daily rations was that it kept the loyalty of the citizens and made people want to live in Rome. But, a downside was there was an increase on the number of poor people into Rome and the freeing of slaves so that the slaves could qualify for the free food Giving out all the grain was also expensive, so Roman emperors had to keep power over Egypt - this contributed to the rise of Roman taxes
Present Day:
-Today, there is mostly a spending problem, not a taxing problem. The taxes are not too high, it’s just that the quality of the services being received from those taxes is too low. Most Americans are getting fewer benefits for their income tax investment.
-When there are more large building projects, social development, strong educational performance, and low employment, fewer people complain about high taxes. (when the economy is successful)
-The Warren Buffett plan (taxing the super rich) However, a big problem with this is that there just aren’t enough super rich people in America to make a big difference.
-Bush Tax Cuts (only helping the very wealthiest, directly leading to accelerating debt accumulation of basic and essential services across America)
-institute a value-added tax (VAT) on goods sold within the domestic economy as well as goods imported into the U.S. (in essence, being a national sales tax) This plan would hurt the people who have less money to spend more than it hurts the super wealthy, but it would also create revenue from the $1.7 trillion worth of goods and services imported into this economy each year. If some of that revenue was then reinvested into social programs to help those who carry the most burden from the domestic sales tax, the overall result would be positive for everyone.
-We have expanded the rewards for NOT working - so much that University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan estimates that half of the employment we are experiencing is because we are paying people to not work. (public policy uncertainty)
-The main source of revenue for Anderson Township is property taxes. This money funds:
• police and fire protection,
• road maintenance and snow removal,
• public works, planning/zoning and special events,
• capital improvements,
• all other township operating functions
-One source of township revenue comes through the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) program.
-The Anderson Township Public Works Department serves Anderson Township residents by providing quality maintenance of the township’s infrastructure, Township-owned buildings, and the township’s equipment fleet.
-In Anderson Township’s Greenspace, when you travel the public streets, utilize public recycling or attend an event in one of the historical or newer township facilities, you benefit from the services provided by the Public Works Department.
-The Betterment & Beautification Committee is charged with improving the visual appearance of Anderson Township. Associated responsibilities include the development and maintenance of township owned landscaped areas, community gateways, primary thoroughfare enhancements, and other designated sites within the township.
- The city of Cincinnati tries to maintain effective and efficient delivery of quality solid waste collection, snow removal, highway maintenance, fleet services, and architectural maintenance services.
-Traffic and Road Operations of Cincinnati Public Services deals with Asphalt Maintenance & Pavement Repair(Filling potholes, paving, rehab of right-of-way), Attenuator Maintenance, Curb Repair, Emergency Services: Snow, floods, landslides, emergency right-of-way obstructions, Fleet Management (heavy equipment support and maintenance), Roadway Lighting System: Lighting system for streets, highways and public areas, Snow & Ice Control (Snow emergency plan, snow alerts, and snow removal), Structures (Walls, steps, bridges, fences, and storm water drainage system),Traffic Control (Crosswalks, line painting, detour/set up of special events, street signs, traffic control devices, traffic signals and school flashers)
Contacts:
Gary Hucker - Leadman of Anderson Township Road Maintenance
My name is Kate Mizukawa, and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School. In my Social Studies class, we have been studying the problems leading to the downfall of Rome, and similar present day issues. As I was researching the problem of not having enough taxes to fix public works, I realized that I was still missing some useful information. As part of the road maintenance of Anderson Township, I was hoping that you could help me with a few questions I had:
1. I know that the TIF program is one source of revenue for the township, but are there any other sources of revenue to take care of the roads?
2. How do you determine priorities for repairing road maintenance among all of the different roads in Anderson Township?
3. What are the main factors that can affect the condition and lasting of roads, specific to Anderson Township?
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Kate Mizukawa
Reply:
1/24/13
Dear Kate,
I am honored to be a part of your project and will do the best I can to answer your questions. I wish you and your students the best of luck with your Ancient Rome project.
1. I know that the TIF program is one source of revenue for the township, but are there any other sources of revenue to take care of the roads? It all comes from tax money and it is funded from three sources: Road and bridge tax dollars, gas tax dollars and license plates. Each time you pay a fee, we receive a portion and it all goes back into our Township roads.
2. How do you determine priorities for repairing road maintenance among all of the different roads in Anderson Township? The first and most important is the condition of the existing roadway. Each year an engineer rates every mile of county primary road. Roads that rate in the worst condition are automatically put at the top of the list for upcoming road repairs. Those repairs will get done as soon as funding is available. The county uses this list to determine which roads its will resurface itself, using its own forces. Other factors that are considered in making a major improvement, such as a road widening, include daily traffic volumes and safety statistics. A two-lane road in poor condition that handles 20,000 vehicles per day will be rebuilt and widened to five lanes before a similar road that handles only 12,000 vehicles per day.
3.What are the main factors that can affect the condition and lasting of roads, specific to Anderson Township? Balancing current repairs and building new is a struggle. The reason it is a struggle is because it’s easy for people to want to build new instead of paying to fix roads and sidewalks we have. Over the last 40 years a large amount of infrastructure has been built. This includes roads, bridges, sidewalks, sewers, water mains and most of the interstate highway system. The problem is everything ages and deteriorates at the same time and we can’t repair everything all at once.
Here are a couple of interesting facts for you to think about: Romans have long been considered the best builders in civilization and we still build roads and bridges the same way. The interstate was originally built many years ago for the military to move across the country rapidly. To be an interstate road it had to have at least one mile of straight roadway. This enabled military planes to take off and land. The highway system was built during President Eisenhower’s term and this is the reason highways have an “I” before the number. Example: 75
It has been a pleasure answering your questions and please feel free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance to you.
Sincerely,
Richard Shelley Director of Public Works Anderson Township 7850 Five Mile Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45230 PH (513) 688-8400 FAX (513) 231-3970 **//rshelley@andersontownship.org//**
Citations:
"Taxes in the Roman Empire." UNRV History. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.
Not Enough Money to Fix Public Works:
Final Project
Problems:
Ancient Rome:
-PUBLIC WORKS IN ANCIENT ROME:
-aqueducts
-public bathrooms and sewage system
-roads
-baths
-army
- To finance for Rome's huge army, citizens had to pay heavy taxes. These taxes led many people into poverty, and it also hurt the trade in the Roman empire.
- Rome relied on riches from conquered territories. Rome ran out of new lands to conquer, so they had a very large empire to defend. They needed taxes to pay for the military.
-With Rome being so large, Rome had to take care of more and more citizens, and they didn't have enough revenue to keep up with all of the people and the money they were spending, so they had to raise taxes. Then, they started taxing the wealthy people more, which weakened the Roman empire because they didn't want to be taxed.
-Roman road building continued and was well maintained, until economic decline and external pressure began to give way.
-By the fall of the west in 476 AD, the condition of the roads was the same as the empire, and many roads would fall into disuse, disrepair and ruin throughout the medieval age.
-Rome's decline brought the end of the games in the Colosseum. Later, stones from the Colosseum structure was used in construction all around Rome.
-Rome gave out daily rations of grain (bread and circuses) to many poor people in the empire, but there were just more and more people needing the rations, that the government could'nt supply enough and keep up.
-(with above) A benefit of daily rations was that it kept the loyalty of the citizens and made people want to live in Rome. But, a downside was there was an increase on the number of poor people into Rome and the freeing of slaves so that the slaves could qualify for the free food Giving out all the grain was also expensive, so Roman emperors had to keep power over Egypt - this contributed to the rise of Roman taxes
Present Day:
-Today, there is mostly a spending problem, not a taxing problem. The taxes are not too high, it’s just that the quality of the services being received from those taxes is too low. Most Americans are getting fewer benefits for their income tax investment.
-When there are more large building projects, social development, strong educational performance, and low employment, fewer people complain about high taxes. (when the economy is successful)
-The Warren Buffett plan (taxing the super rich) However, a big problem with this is that there just aren’t enough super rich people in America to make a big difference.
-Bush Tax Cuts (only helping the very wealthiest, directly leading to accelerating debt accumulation of basic and essential services across America)
-institute a value-added tax (VAT) on goods sold within the domestic economy as well as goods imported into the U.S. (in essence, being a national sales tax) This plan would hurt the people who have less money to spend more than it hurts the super wealthy, but it would also create revenue from the $1.7 trillion worth of goods and services imported into this economy each year. If some of that revenue was then reinvested into social programs to help those who carry the most burden from the domestic sales tax, the overall result would be positive for everyone.
-We have expanded the rewards for NOT working - so much that University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan estimates that half of the employment we are experiencing is because we are paying people to not work. (public policy uncertainty)
-The main source of revenue for Anderson Township is property taxes. This money funds:
• police and fire protection,
• road maintenance and snow removal,
• public works, planning/zoning and special events,
• capital improvements,
• all other township operating functions
-One source of township revenue comes through the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) program.
-The Anderson Township Public Works Department serves Anderson Township residents by providing quality maintenance of the township’s infrastructure, Township-owned buildings, and the township’s equipment fleet.
-In Anderson Township’s Greenspace, when you travel the public streets, utilize public recycling or attend an event in one of the historical or newer township facilities, you benefit from the services provided by the Public Works Department.
-The Betterment & Beautification Committee is charged with improving the visual appearance of Anderson Township. Associated responsibilities include the development and maintenance of township owned landscaped areas, community gateways, primary thoroughfare enhancements, and other designated sites within the township.
- The city of Cincinnati tries to maintain effective and efficient delivery of quality solid waste collection, snow removal, highway maintenance, fleet services, and architectural maintenance services.
-Traffic and Road Operations of Cincinnati Public Services deals with Asphalt Maintenance & Pavement Repair(Filling potholes, paving, rehab of right-of-way), Attenuator Maintenance, Curb Repair, Emergency Services: Snow, floods, landslides, emergency right-of-way obstructions, Fleet Management (heavy equipment support and maintenance), Roadway Lighting System: Lighting system for streets, highways and public areas, Snow & Ice Control (Snow emergency plan, snow alerts, and snow removal), Structures (Walls, steps, bridges, fences, and storm water drainage system),Traffic Control (Crosswalks, line painting, detour/set up of special events, street signs, traffic control devices, traffic signals and school flashers)
Contacts:
Gary Hucker - Leadman of Anderson Township Road Maintenance
ghucker@andersontownship.org
Emails:
Dear Mr.Hucker,
My name is Kate Mizukawa, and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School. In my Social Studies class, we have been studying the problems leading to the downfall of Rome, and similar present day issues. As I was researching the problem of not having enough taxes to fix public works, I realized that I was still missing some useful information. As part of the road maintenance of Anderson Township, I was hoping that you could help me with a few questions I had:
1. I know that the TIF program is one source of revenue for the township, but are there any other sources of revenue to take care of the roads?
2. How do you determine priorities for repairing road maintenance among all of the different roads in Anderson Township?
3. What are the main factors that can affect the condition and lasting of roads, specific to Anderson Township?
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Kate Mizukawa
Reply:
1/24/13Dear Kate,
I am honored to be a part of your project and will do the best I can to answer your questions. I wish you and your students the best of luck with your Ancient Rome project.
1. I know that the TIF program is one source of revenue for the township, but are there any other sources of revenue to take care of the roads?
It all comes from tax money and it is funded from three sources: Road and bridge tax dollars, gas tax dollars and license plates. Each time you pay a fee, we receive a portion and it all goes back into our Township roads.
2. How do you determine priorities for repairing road maintenance among all of the different roads in Anderson Township?
The first and most important is the condition of the existing roadway. Each year an engineer rates every mile of county primary road. Roads that rate in the worst condition are automatically put at the top of the list for upcoming road repairs. Those repairs will get done as soon as funding is available. The county uses this list to determine which roads its will resurface itself, using its own forces.
Other factors that are considered in making a major improvement, such as a road widening, include daily traffic volumes and safety statistics. A two-lane road in poor condition that handles 20,000 vehicles per day will be rebuilt and widened to five lanes before a similar road that handles only 12,000 vehicles per day.
3. What are the main factors that can affect the condition and lasting of roads, specific to Anderson Township?
Balancing current repairs and building new is a struggle. The reason it is a struggle is because it’s easy for people to want to build new instead of paying to fix roads and sidewalks we have. Over the last 40 years a large amount of infrastructure has been built. This includes roads, bridges, sidewalks, sewers, water mains and most of the interstate highway system. The problem is everything ages and deteriorates at the same time and we can’t repair everything all at once.
Here are a couple of interesting facts for you to think about: Romans have long been considered the best builders in civilization and we still build roads and bridges the same way. The interstate was originally built many years ago for the military to move across the country rapidly. To be an interstate road it had to have at least one mile of straight roadway. This enabled military planes to take off and land. The highway system was built during President Eisenhower’s term and this is the reason highways have an “I” before the number. Example: 75
It has been a pleasure answering your questions and please feel free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance to you.
Sincerely,
Richard Shelley
Director of Public Works
Anderson Township
7850 Five Mile Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45230
PH (513) 688-8400
FAX (513) 231-3970
**//rshelley@andersontownship.org//**
Citations:
"Taxes in the Roman Empire." UNRV History. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.
http://www.unrv.com/economy/roman-taxes.php
"Roman Aqueducts." Roman Aqueducts. UNRV History, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013
http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-aqueducts.php
"Roman Roads." Roman Roads. UNRV History, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013
http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-roads.php
Carr Karen (PhD). Roman Sewage- Ancient Rome for kids Kidipede History For Kids. 2012
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/science/sewage.htm
"The End of the Empire in the West." History Alive! TCI, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.
http://www.learntci.com/shared/sections/6688?locale=es
How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome. Cato Journal, Vol. 14, No.2 (Fall 1994)
by: Bruce Barlett
Sellar, Christian. "Colosseum." World Book Student. World Book, 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2013.
http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar124630&st=colosseum
"Public Works." Anderson Township. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.
__http://www.andersontownship.org/departments/public-works.aspx__
"Fiscal Office." Anderson Township, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.
http://www.andersontownship.org/departments/fiscal-office.aspx
"Betterment and Beautifiction." Anderson Township. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.
__http://www.andersontownship.org/committees/betterment-beautification.aspx__
"Public Services - Public Services." Public Services - Public Services. City of Cincinnati, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.
__http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/public-services/__
"Traffic & Road Operations - Public Services." City of Cincinnati. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/public-services/about-public-services/traffic-road-operations/